About Us

Eyes on Trade is a blog by the staff of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch (GTW) division. GTW aims to promote democracy by challenging corporate globalization, arguing that the current globalization model is neither a random inevitability nor "free trade." Eyes on Trade is a space for interested parties to share information about globalization and trade issues, and in particular for us to share our watchdogging insights with you! GTW director Lori Wallach's initial post explains it all.

September 19, 2013

Obama’s Quest
for Fast Track Authority and for Support for Trans-Pacific Partnership Pact
Undermined by FTA Outcomes; U.S. Exports Have Declined in Each of 16 Months
Since Korea FTA Implementation

As President Barack Obama’s Export Council convenes today to discuss his
request for Fast Track authority and the status of the increasingly
controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), recent government data show it
will be virtually impossible to meet Obama’s stated goal of doubling exports by
the end of 2014. The same data shows that in 16 out of 16
months
since the Korea “free trade” agreement (FTA) took effect last year, U.S. goods
exports to Korea have fallen below the average export level in the year
before the deal. At last year’s sluggish overall two percent U.S. export growth
rate, the United States will not achieve
Obama’s export-doubling goal until 2032, 18 years behind schedule.

The actual
dismal outcomes of the current free trade agreement model are having a
significant impact in Congress, where skepticism is growing about both Obama’s
request for the rarely used Fast Track trade authority and the TPP.

“Given the
dismal data on U.S. export growth, it would be very revealing if the Export
Council just calls for more of the same policies and procedures that have gotten
us these bad results,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global
Trade Watch. “But whatever the Export Council says, many members of Congress
are well aware that the Korea pact has been a loser and that this Trans-Pacific
deal would just expand that model to more countries, which seems to be fueling
opposition to the president’s request that Congress delegate its constitutional
authority over trade to him via the Fast Track process.”

The export
record of the Korea FTA is even worse. In the first year of the deal, U.S. exports to
Korea fell 10 percent
(a $4.2 billion decrease), imports from Korea rose 2 percent (a $1.3 billion
increase), and the U.S. trade deficit with Korea swelled 37 percent (a $5.5
billion increase), compared to the prior year. Approximately 40,000 net U.S.
jobs were lost
under the deal’s first year, according to an economic study.

“If the
president is serious about growing exports, he would do well to ditch these
NAFTA-style so-called ‘trade’ pacts that export U.S. investment dollars and
American jobs and look for a new model,” said Wallach. “As long as the
administration keeps pushing more of the same instead of acknowledging the
damaging record of the past trade deals, of course members of Congress must
maintain their constitutional authority over trade so they can make sure we do
not end up with yet another damaging pact.”